This morning eight youth and three adults from St. Alban’s are leaving for a mission trip in southern Mississippi.We will be working with Lutheran Episcopal Service Ministries and assisting them in their continued effort to rebuild the Gulf Coast following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.I ask all of you to pray for us as we work in God’s Kingdom this week.

However, we must remember that Christian mission should not be relegated to summer trips.Christian mission is a vocation, it is an attitude in life that is developed by daily habits.Spreading the good news of Jesus Christ and helping the afflicted in Jesus’ name can take place at HEB, in a restaurant, or even right at home.

Throughout our week in Mississippi, we will keep referring back to our New Testament lesson from today.This passage is strength for those who are doing God’s work away from home: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).